Four Years After the Tohoku Earthquake, RMS Releases Global Tsunami
Risk Study

Study shows significant tsunami risk in the Caribbean and
Mediterranean

March 11, 2015 06:43 PM Eastern Daylight Time

NEWARK, Calif.--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--RMS,
the world’s leading catastrophe risk management firm, has released a
global tsunami risk study that identifies more than 20 subduction zones
worldwide capable of generating a giant earthquake and tsunami - similar
in scale to the March 11, 2011, Tohoku, Japan event. The new study,
which uses the newly released RMS Global Tsunami Scenario Catalog,
reveals many coastal populations, industrial clusters, ports and
vacation resorts at risk from this underestimated tsunami threat.

“Many people are completely unaware they live in direct range of a
potentially catastrophic tsunami”

To conduct the study, RMS examined all subduction zones worldwide
capable of producing magnitude (M) 9.0 earthquakes, including those
considered dormant or inactive.

“While the Cyprus Arc subduction zone and Puerto Rico Trench, among
others, are dormant, RMS analysis reveals they are capable of generating
tsunami waves similar in scale to those produced along the Japan Trench
in 2011, and with it unprecedented devastation,” said Dr. Robert
Muir-Wood, chief research officer at RMS. “Future mega-tsunamis should
no longer be considered black swan events, as we now know where these
events can occur. While these events have very low occurrence rates,
communities and businesses on the coastlines at frontline risk of these
events should assess the risk accordingly.”

The RMS study illustrates that a M9.0 earthquake on the Cyprus Arc could
trigger a tsunami across the eastern Mediterranean Sea, impacting up to
12 countries including Cyprus, Israel, Lebanon and Turkey.

“Turkey would bear the brunt of impacts from a mega-tsunami generated on
the Cyprus Arc. Coastal cities in Antalya, a popular tourist destination
along the Turkish Riviera, and Mersin, a southern Turkish city with the
largest seaport in the country, could experience tsunami wave heights up
to nine meters,” said Muir-Wood.

The study also shows a tsunami generated on the Puerto Rico Trench could
inundate popular tourist resorts in the Dominican Republic and in the
British and U.S. Virgin Islands with waves up to nine meters. The same
tsunami could also flood coastlines along western and northern Puerto
Rico, including areas of San Juan.

Giant earthquakes and their accompanying mega-tsunamis that were
generated north of Sumatra in 2004, off the coast of central Chile in
2010, and off the coast of north eastern Japan in 2011, have claimed an
estimated 300,000 lives and cost more than $250 billion in economic
loss. Rising coastal populations worldwide have led to a significantly
increased risk from tsunami inundation.

“Many people are completely unaware they live in direct range of a
potentially catastrophic tsunami,” said Muir-Wood. “As we saw four years
ago with the Tohoku event, mega-tsunami events can devastate local
communities and have far-reaching impacts on global supply chains.”

Some of the potential mega-tsunamis included in the RMS Global
Tsunami Scenario Catalog

SubductionZone

InundationArea (km2)

Number of countries impacted and examples of cities at frontline
risk of the tsunami and their maximum inundation depth